Silence of the Hare REMASTERED
by Mind Jack
Summary: After a group of bandits, including one who calls himself her brother, murder her parents in cold blood, a young snow hare named Yin Bei vows revenge. Her shy, timid disposition prevents her from communicating with anyone other than her Master and three reformed criminals turned Kung Fu Masters. Can she avenge her father, or will she share his fate? (Remaster. OC centric.)


_**Silence of the Hare**_

_**Written By: Mind Jack**_

_**Chapter 1: Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow**_

* * *

Yin Bei swung her fist into the board as hard as she could. All the six-year-old snow hare got for her troubles was a set of bruised knuckles.

Her blue-green eyes teared up, and a pained whine came from her throat.

The larger hare in white-on-blue master's robes holding the board dropped it instantly, moving to comfort her with a hug. "Hey now, little Snowball. No tears!" He brought her hand up to examine it. "There there. It's just a little bruise."

After a couple more sniffles, Bei managed to restrain her tears, giving him a small smile.

He gave her a playful pat on the back. "Atta girl."

Some of the others training in the courtyard had turned to look at them. "She okay, Swifty?" a black and orange patterned python asked.

"She's fine, Gishi. Hey, Bao Zhi, can you help us out here for a sec? I need someone to hold the plank while I show her something."

"Sure thing!" A big baboon in a pair of brown sackcloth shorts with shaggy, brass-gold fur knuckle-walked over to them.

With Bao Zhi holding the board, her father took a couple of steps back. "Now, this is called an ear strike. It's a bit more useful than punching for a hare. Watch closely. You want to twist your shoulders and head to give it more power and avoid giving yourself whiplash." Just as he described, one of his extremely long, almost armlike ears shot out and shattered the board, causing splinters to bounce off of Bao Zhi's thick pelt.

Yin Bei gave enthusiastic applause as her father returned a smile and a bow.

He brought out another board. "Here. I want to see you try it." He held the board out for her.

Yin Bei took a deep breath, falling into her best version of a stance. She mimicked the move as well as she could, and was rewarded with a satisfying _thunk _as her ear struck the board, but it didn't snap. Her heart fell as it barely even budged in her father's hands.

He seemed to notice the dismay on his daughter's face. "Hey now. Don't fret. You'll get there eventually, Beibei."

He gave her an encouraging rub between her ears, making her smile again.

They were interrupted by the sound of lazily flapping wings, as a haggard old goose toting a brown satchel entered. He wasn't a goose Bei recognized. Maybe he was some kind of courier?

The mail goose landed with a stumble. "Mail call," he droned. "Are you Master Swift Bunny? And Blazing Rooster?"

"Swift Hare," her father replied coldly. "I am a _hare. _Not a _bunny. _There are some clear differences. Bigger feet, longer ears."

"Whatever." The goose dug through his bag, pulling out a simple roll of paper and passing it over. "Some other flop-ear sent it. Said it was urgent."

The goose flew off without another word, even his departure seeming rather rude.

"Are there other hares in Zhongwen?" Rooster asked, confused.

"I don't think so," her father said as he unrolled the scroll. "That's weird. There's no message. Just a picture of a hare making a funny face."

"Maybe some other clan of hares?" her "Uncle" Bing, a slightly graying, unusually large gray-furred rat with violet-tinted eyes, suggested. "Sounds kind of like your family crest; the hare with the wide eyes."

She was going to say something, but he quickly rolled the scroll closed. "Well, we had better get back to work. Let's practice your stance, Bei."

She nodded obediently.

"Use your words," her father ordered.

The young hare huffed. "Yes, father," she replied.

* * *

Later that night, something woke Yin Bei. The six-year-old snow hare sat up in bed, looking around blearily as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. Her tall, snow-white ears swiveled back and forth, searching for whatever it was that had awoken her.

Muffled voices echoed from down the hall beyond her bedroom, her father's among them. The wax paper door was normally not very soundproofed, and father knew how keen her hearing was. He had always been careful to never make noise at night. Several of the voices were unknown to Bei. Did they have visitors?

With a wide-mouthed yawn and a large stretch, she slid curiously out of bed to slide the door open a crack, one green eye peering curiously down the hall. All that was visible was a large shadow cast on the wall by a dim light. Were the lanterns still lit downstairs?

Bei couldn't see around the corner from where she was, but she could hear a little more clearly with the door open. "I'm kinda shocked you recognized me," said an unfamiliar voice from downstairs. "It's been what, thirty years?"

"Sounds about right. Forty-two since I plowed your mother's soil."

Bei shook her head, her brow furrowed. Had her father been a farmer at some point and not told her?

The unknown speaker tut-tutted. "No speaking out of turn. Hit him, E Jile."

The large shadow on the wall shifted sharply, followed by a meaty _thud!_

Yin Bei jumped back, her ears and paws covering her mouth.

Her father grunted. "Is that the best you've got, sweet cakes? Your mother hit harder than you, and I enjoyed it when she did!" _Thud! _

Yin Bei started to creep back away from the door, her heart racing as her breathing sped up to match. What should she do!? What _could _she do!? Had the house been invaded by bandits? What was going on?

In her panic, she accidentally stumbled over her own feet, falling on her rear with a small "Oof!"

The voices downstairs went quiet. "What was that?" said the bandit leader.

"Probably just the house settling," her father replied quickly. "It's an old place, super creaky."

"I don't think so. E Jile, go check it out."

"You got it, boss."

Heavy footsteps began to slowly thud up the stairs. Yin Bei scrambled to hide under her bed before the intruder arrived. She quickly pulled the blanket down to act as a makeshift curtain.

The thudding presence entered the room with a bang as E Jile slammed right through the door rather than opening it, and Bei was able to see a pair of large, brown-furred bear feet through the crack between the blanket and the floor. She held her breath, trying to make as little noise as possible. "There's nothing here, boss!" E Jile called back down.

"Remember what I told you last time?" the leader replied.

"Check under the bed?"

Bei's whole body froze.

"Check under the bed, _you idiot_," the leader corrected. "Details are important."

Yin Bei thought she might be just quick enough to slip behind E Jile's back and out the door before she was spotted, but the bear was too fast, snatching her up by her long ears just as she emerged from beneath the bed. "Hey! Looks like you were right, boss! I caught a snack down there!"

"Excellent! Why don't you come down here, and show the class what you found?"

Yin Bei struggled and kicked, even trying to punch the bear's hand. All she got for her efforts was a nonchalant slap to the side of her head, leaving her seeing stars.

E Jile had no trouble whatsoever carrying her downstairs, giving her a much clearer view of his fellow bandits.

The first thing she noticed was her father. He was bound by heavy chains to one of the beams that held up the ceiling. Even his ears had been tied to the beam. He visibly winced when he saw her. "Put her down!" he cried out, straining against the chains.

The room was filled by several other bandits; a squirrel in a purple cloak and white, gold-laced pants, a mink in thick, metal armor, some kind of big, bluish lizard Bei had never seen before, wearing what looked like some kind of thick, stained apron, and a squat, orange-furred ape with long arms.

When she saw the leader of the bandits, she was forced to do a double-take. He was a hare. Like Bei and her father, he had a thick, white winter coat. He wore a very simple long-sleeved, black shirt and pants, with a plain, red bandana around his neck. It took Yin Bei a moment to pick out the differences between him and her father. The most obvious difference was his ears; they were a lot shorter than father's, and the tips were a weird shape. His eyes were a cold brown, like mud. His smile never quite reached them.

"Well, well, well! Look what we've got here!" he greeted with something that might have seemed like warmth to someone who was blind, deaf, and very, very dumb.

To Yin Bei, the other hare looked like he didn't know how to give a real smile right, but was certainly trying hard. "Let her go, Yang Chao!" her father warned.

Yang Chao signaled for E Jile to lower her down so that he could look in the eye. "You, young lady, look just like your mother. I got the bad luck of looking like our old man."

"Our?" Bei squeaked.

He nodded, the ding-dang happiest smile in the world on his face. "Yup! Unless I'm reading the situation wrong, the old man has been busy! You trying to replace me?" He let out a chuckle, only to turn back towards Yin Bei with a dead-serious look on his face.

He motioned with one hand, and E Jile tossed her to the floor. She stayed on the floor, frozen in fear.

Yang Chao knelt down, balancing on his heels. "Do you like games, little mite?"

Yin Bei swallowed, struggling to speak for her dry mouth. "Um...y-yes?"

"Ah…" He gave a small nod. "Here. Let me show you something." He stood and turned back to her father. The other bandits took several steps back. Their leader walked until he was a hair's length away, and stared hard into his eyes blankly.

The older hare looked down, his eyes crossing as he tried to glare back.

Yang Chao raised a paw, gently placing it on the older man's cheek. The bound hare went rigid, every muscle in his body visibly strained, even beneath the chains. He began to thrash violently.

Yang Chao's face remained absolutely neutral. It was almost eerie compared to his giddiness from before. His hand stayed pressed against her father's cheek, no matter how hard he thrashed.

Bei could only watch in quaking terror.

After several minutes, both of them abruptly went still as boards. Yang Chao's eyes slid closed, while her father's snapped open as wide as they could go. The look on Chao's face was… blank. Almost solemn. He looked as if he were meditating, or perhaps praying.

Bei did not know how to describe what happened next. It was as if his pupils slowly devoured the rest of his eyes, turning them an inky black. Dark liquid began to fall from his eyes and mouth, and he went limp.

Yang Chao shoved the elder hare's head away, slamming it into the beam. When he took his hand away, a black hand print was left where it had been.

Yin Bei's mouth seemed stuck halfway open. Her heart beat hard enough to bruise her chest from the inside. She slowly crawled up to him. A touch of his foot seemed to freeze her small paw. She prodded his foot, shaking it with both hands, trying to make him move, make him wake up. She pulled at the chain, but nothing happened. Nothing worked, but she just kept trying to wake him up. What had Yang Chao done? Put him to sleep somehow? Dampness made its way to her cheeks as her cries grew more desperate.

A floorboard creaked behind her, and she whipped around, her heart somehow finding a way to beat even faster.

Yang Chao's grin had returned. He knelt in front of her. Her back pressed up against her father's chains. His muddy brown eyes met hers in an unflinching gaze. Her throat, dry from yelling, stung as she gulped in fear.

He just sat there, looking at her in a strange staring contest. None of the other bandits moved or spoke. For a moment, it was as if time froze.

It was the lizard who broke the silence, after one of the boars whispered something to him. "We could not find his wife," he announced in a strange, foreign accent.

"Didn't expect to," Yang Chao replied. He pushed himself to his feet, dusting himself off.

"I think we've got a problem here," the mink observed. "What should we do with the girl?"

Grins came over the faces of many of the bandits. Some frowned or grimmaced for reasons unknown. "Oooh oooh! Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!" the squirrel practically yelled, jumping up and down as she waved her arms.

"Priestess…" Yang Chao acknowledged, a look of amusement on his face.

The squirrel stopped her frantic jumping. "I can sacrifice her to Ulut' Thun. We can turn her into an evil spirit, and set her loose on the village over the mountain! It'll be hilarious!"

Bei decided she didn't like the squirrel.

Her eyes darted about, looking for some way to get out. All she could see were the many bandits surrounding her. Her mind raced with all the bad things they could do with her.

Yang Chao scratched his chin, nodding to himself, seeming somewhat lost in thought.

"I could eat her," E Jile suggested with a hopeful grin.

"No. That takes too long," the mink objected. "You always take hours to move when you've eaten a live meal."

"Then you won't like any of my ideas," joked the big lizard. "Though I suppose you could kill her with the Death Touch, just like her father."

"That's no fun though!" argued the squirrel-priestess lady.

"We could take her with us," said the ape, frowning thoughtfully.

"Excellent idea!" the mink agreed. "Take her with us. We can sell her into slavery for a tidy profit."

Yin Bei's eyes set on one tiny spot: an upstairs window. It was closed, but maybe she could break it if she jumped into it hard enough?

Yang Chao saw her looking. He followed her gaze, and a smile spread across his face. "I have a better idea."

She yelped as her ears were suddenly yanked upwards, gravity seeming to reverse. Yang Chao had snatched her up so fast that she barely had time to realize what happened.

He carried her up to the second floor. Well, not quite carried. He was a bit too short for that. He essentially dragged her up the stairs. She was too terrified to kick or scream, so she just curled up into a ball and tried not to hurt herself on the stairs. "I think you're going to like this idea," he whispered in her ear, poking her in the nose with one finger. The hand holding her ears slammed into the window, rattling the glass and causing Bei's nose to press against it.

Bei's eyes darted around outside. Her breath fogged up the window, but she could see the small snowy path leading off into the woods and, off in the distance, Master Rooster's school, where her father taught.

"See the school out there?" Chao whispered, his breath tickling her ear. "We'll give you a little head start, say a minute or so, before we start chasing you. I want you to run to it. If you make it to the edge of the woods just outside, we'll let you go."

Yin Bei's cheek rubbed against the cold glass as she turned her head to give him a confused look. His grin was ecstatic, as if he'd just found a big bag of yuan.

She had no idea what he thought was going to happen, but he sure didn't expect her to sock him in the nose and jump through the window.

The broken glass cut into her skin, but she barely noticed through her pounding heart and racing mind. She landed with a clumsy imitation of the landing rolls she'd seen her father do. Pain lit up her right leg, but she couldn't afford to stop now. She pushed herself to her feet and limped off into the trees as fast as she could.

She heard the rush of footsteps after her from bandits who must have been guarding the outside of the door, but it quickly faded into the distance as she got further into the trees.

Bei's heart was beating out of her chest, and her breath came in ragged, tired bursts of steam. Her bare feet were almost completely numb from exposure to the cold snow. She could barely feel her ears. A sharp pain in her leg made her knee buckle beneath her, sending her tumbling nose-first into the ground.

She pushed herself up, looking around wildly. The howling wind and blinding snow made it near impossible to tell if they were still following her. She had no idea how long she'd been running, but she couldn't stop now. She forced herself to her feet and kept limp-running on.

It didn't take long for her to become hopelessly lost. She hadn't been out in the woods very often. Every time she'd been taken to Rooster's school before, her father had always taken the long road around, past the village. She was too cold, too panicked, and too tired to look for landmarks, and so had no way to know if she was circling back on herself. She did her best to make her tracks confusing, on occasion walking in circles, sometimes jumping short distances to the right or left, and backtracking through her own footprints.

"Hey! I found fresh footprints!"

Bei's ears shot up. Acting on instinct, she dove into the cover of a nearby bush to hide. The thorns scraped into her skin and clothes, but she bit her lip to stifle her cries.

Several lanterns came into view with the snow, dragging with them several bandits; big, bulky boars in fearsome spiked armor, carrying axes and hammers. The biggest of the boars sniffed the air, trying to catch her scent. "Damned wind. I can't smell a thing."

Yin Bei held her breath, doing her best to stay as quiet as possible. Her heart was beating so hard that she was sure they could hear it.

The boars blundered around, following some of the false trails she left. She let out a small, relieved breath as they wandered off, frustrated, back the way they came.

She let out a relieved breath, climbing out of the bush.

"Are they gone?"

Yin Bei yelped, whirling around at the unexpected voice. The squirrel-priest-lady's face poked out of the bush behind her.

The Priestess' face lit up. "Oh hi! It's you!"

Bei barely managed to avoid screaming. Instead, she just turned and took off running as fast as she could on all fours. "Oooo! Are we gonna play tag? I love this game!" Bei could hear the squirrel's prancing footsteps chasing her, hopping merrily on all fours.

Bei shut her eyes tight against the blinding, biting wind and snow. She narrowly avoided running into trees several times, only feeling them with outstretched ears. She kept running, not even realizing when the pursuing footsteps stopped, nor when the trees in front of her stopped coming.

*THUD!*

"Ow!"

Yin Bei rubbed her sore head, looking up at what she'd run into. Her eyes widened at the sight of the towering stone walls of Master Rooster's compound. She'd made it! "Help! Help!" she shouted, jumping and waving her arms to make herself more visible.

There was a brief flapping of wings, and an orange-feathered, red-crested head appeared over the ramparts. "Yin Bei? What are you doing here?"

She pointed frantically out into the woods, struggling to find the words she needed. "B-bandits! They broke into our house!"

Rooster wasted no time in starting to call out orders. "Bao Zhi! Open the gates to let Yin Bei in, then come with me! Bing, you come too! Gishi, you stay here and take care of Yin Bei!"

Events blurred for Bei as she tried to move towards the main gate. Her vision began to fade along with her adrenaline as she began to slowly lose consciousness. She barely heard the rushing footsteps towards her as she blacked out.

* * *

Yin Bei awoke hours later in a daze. The first thing she noticed was the nasty, sour smell of medicine. It was warm, very warm. She let out a small groan as the pain of her injuries finally hit her. Her eyes slowly creaked open, her vision blurry for a moment. Once it settled, she found herself in one of the small bedrooms in Rooster's school. She tried to sit up, but failed. Bing knelt next to her as he changed out bandages on her leg. Master Rooster sat on a low stool nearby.

"Ah. You're awake." Rooster observed, rising from his seat with a troubled, worried expression. "How do you feel?"

"Ow…"

"Yes. I can see that."

Bing waved him off with one bald hand. "Leave the questions for now. She's not in any condition to be answering them."

Yin Bei looked around the room, trying again to sit up. "Father…? Where's my father?"

Bing and Rooster's faces fell. "He's… gone, Bei," said Bing in a grave tone.

"Where did he go?" she asked. "Will he be back soon?" Did the bandits kidnap him?

Bing's face fell. "Yin Bei…"

"Your father is dead," Rooster pronounced with finality.

"Master Rooster!" Bing scolded.

Rooster shrugged. "We can't just hide it from her. She'll figure it out sooner or later."

Yin Bei tilted her head, her eyes worried, but confused. "Dead? What does that mean?"

Bing winced. Rooster seemed to clench his beak shut to avoid speaking, so it was Bing who answered. "Yin Bei… do you remember last year, when you asked about your mother?"

She nodded. "Father said she was...gone. She wasn't...coming...back…" Yin Bei trailed off, the similarities in what she had been told and what she was being told fitting together like puzzle pieces in her mind. Her mouth opened again, but no words could come out. She felt a sickening weight settle in her gut, completely unrelated to the terrible smell of the medicine on her wounds. She looked to Rooster and Bing for some small hope, some conclusion other than the one she'd come to.

They said nothing. Neither could even meet her eyes.

Her gaze dropped, along with her heart. The energy seemed to leak out of her. She felt… heavy; as if her body had been filled with lead. At the same time, she somehow felt hollow. It was like her emotions were all fighting over which was in charge. Since none won, she just felt...nothing. She buried her face in her hands, wrapping her ears around her head. She could feel tears on her cheeks, but her mind couldn't tell why.

She heard the door slide open. Her head jerked up as she fearfully scrambled back, only to relax as she recognized the other two occupants of Rooster's compound.

Bao Zhi was a middle-aged baboon. He was unusually bulky for his species, with shaggy fur the color of brass. His only clothing was a pair of simple sackcloth pants. His fur was so unkempt that it was difficult to see his eyes. As usual, Yin Bei could smell the odor of stale wine on him from across the room.

Gishi was an orange python with splotches of inky-black all up and down his body. His slitted, reptilian eyes were tinted a slightly paler amber, and were quite obviously filled with guilt.

Bao Zhi set a tray down next to her, bearing a tin teapot and cups. "Brought in some tea," he said in an unusually soft tone. Bei took a small sip. The tea was warm, which was a slight relief to the cold weight in her gut. It was a small comfort, but it was nice nonetheless.

Bing put a hand on her shoulder. "Yin Bei… I know it might be hard to remember, but can you describe the people who attacked you? Anything that you can remember might be helpful."

Yin Bei took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "The one leading them… his name was Yang Chao."

All four of them blinked in surprise at the name. "Um… he said he was my brother. Father… didn't disagree," she finished.

They all shared a look. "It can't be," said Bing. "Yang Chao runs away from home, then comes back decades later, only to murder his father?"

Rooster shook his head, mystified. "I cannot think of a reason why."

"Um… who is he?" asked Yin Bei.

Rooster took a deep breath. "He is indeed your older brother. Before he left, he was a perfectly polite, quiet boy. He kept to himself a lot. Then, in his late teens he just… left. He vanished, and we never found him."

Yin Bei opened her mouth to ask her next question, but no sound wanted to come out. It took her a few moments to get the words out. "What… W-what did he do to my father? He just touched him and…" She trailed off, unable to describe the rest of the horrible scene. Her eyes squeezed shut, tears leaking from the corners. Bao Zhi patted her back comfortingly, while Gishi rubbed her head with his tail.

Master Rooster pondered his answer for a moment. "It's like nothing we've seen before. From the outside, it looks like some kind of poison or venom. But, at the same time… it's almost like the life force was sucked out of him."

Yin Bei couldn't hold the tears back anymore. She sobbed bitterly, covering her eyes with her hands and ears as if she was trying to physically hold the tears in. She could barely see through the dense fog of tears at this point, and could only hear what the others in the room were saying.

"Rooster!" Bing scolded. The bird grunted something that sounded vaguely like "She asked."

Gishi sighed. "Maybe we ought to clear out, Boss. I don't think any of us know how to handle a cryin' kid."

Bao Zhi cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'm still kinda drunk from earlier. Maybe Gishi and I should just go guard the gate?"

"Rooster, you can go with them," said Bing. "I can take care of her."

"Are you sure?" asked Rooster, his voice full of uncertainty.

Bing just nodded. "Go ahead. If you want to help, maybe cook something for her to eat later."

With some hesitation, the three of them left, leaving only Bing and Yin Bei in the room.

For a while, he just held her, letting her cry. Her ears and arms wrapped around his torso, clinging to him like a fallen person to the edge of a cliff. "Shhhhh. It's alright, Bei. Let it out." He patted her back gently, causing her to squeeze him tighter. She couldn't even muster the concentration to blubber incoherently. She just sobbed and whined into his torso.

They stayed that way for a long time. Eventually, Bei simply ran out of energy. She didn't know exactly when she fell asleep. All she knew was that she felt very grateful when the wall of darkness rose up to hit her in the face.

* * *

The next few days were a blur. Her father's funeral and burial passed by. She remembered little of them besides a pounding migraine, a lot of tears, and covering her eyes for the vast majority of it.

Most days, she just lie in bed, only moving when food was brought to her. Sometimes one of the others would come in and sit with her for a while, trying to talk to her. Gishi would make jokes, trying to get her to laugh. Bao Zhi would usually bring her food or sweets, most of which she declined.

Slowly, Yin Bei began to get a bit more energy back. She'd wander around the compound grounds, sometimes watching the masters train, sometimes just walking aimlessly. Her mind still fought between grief and apathy. The vast majority of the time she didn't even speak. It was wordlessly agreed that she'd live at the compound. They couldn't just throw their old friend's daughter out into the snow.

Her seventh birthday passed about a month later. That morning, she sat on a rail up above the training hall, watching them dodge and block the various obstacles. Gishi looped through spiked rings swinging from the ceiling, missing his landing and crashing face-first in the middle of a large balance bowl, where Bao Zhi and Bing sparred. Bao Zhi dropped down to the ground, pulling the bowl down with him. Bing was forcefully tipped forward, and nearly fell. Instead, he used his momentum to land squarely on the baboon's shoulders, striking a pressure point at the back of his neck. Bao Zhi's muscles seized up, sending him to the floor.

Rooster banged a gong with his beak. "Well done, Bing! Gishi, try to land less on your face. Bao Zhi, focus on speed training. Business as usual."

At that moment, Yin Bei felt something she hadn't before, and she wasn't quite sure what it was. It was partially anger, partially frustration, and… something else. She didn't know _why _she was mad, though.

She closed her eyes and sighed. She felt… frustrated. Everyone did the same thing every day. Over and over again. It was driving her mad, but she couldn't figure out why.

_Business as usual…_ That line stuck in Yin Bei's head. Something about it bothered her.

She thought hard about it, and a thought finally hit her. After the night of her father's murder, nothing she knew about had been done to find Yang Chao. No one was doing anything to catch her father's murderer.

At that moment, watching her father's friends train, Yin Bei had an idea.

* * *

A loud screech jolted Master Rooster out of his sleep. "What on _Earth?" _

He rushed out into the hall. Bing and Gishi were already out there. Bao Zhi must have blacked out, because he wasn't there. "Was that Yin Bei?" the python asked.

"It came from the training hall!"

The three of them hurried over to the large building next door. With a flap of Rooster's wings, a blast of hot air slammed the doors open. They all crowded in to see… Yin Bei stuck to the wall. Her night clothes were pinned to the hardwood by darts from the wall launchers. She struggled vainly against her small, sharp captors as the three masters rushed to her aid.

Once she was freed, Bing and Rooster looked her over. "Thank goodness, it doesn't look like any darts actually hit you." Bing said with a relieved sigh. "What were you _doing _in here?"

Yin Bei looked down, seeming rather embarrassed. "I-I was trying to learn Kung Fu…"

Rooster blinked in surprise. "Kung Fu? What for?"

She seemed very interested in her feet at that moment. "So I could fight Yang Chao…" she admitted.

Gishi's gave a sad, guilty frown. Bing opened his mouth for a moment, as if he was going to speak, then just hugged her.

Rooster's reaction was a little less sympathetic. "That was ridiculously dangerous. You could have been, and very nearly _were_, killed or seriously hurt."

She closed her eyes, ashamed. Any of the driving anger she had was gone now. Tears slowly started streaming down her cheeks. "But… n-none of you are doing anything! He murdered my father! He was your friend! D-don't any of you want to catch him?" She intended to yell it, but it came out as more of a quiet, blubbering whimper. Stupid words. They never worked the way she wanted them to.

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

"Yin Bei…" Bing started.

"We have been looking," Rooster finished.

Yin Bei's head snapped up, her eyes full of confusion.

Rooster nodded. "Bao Zhi has been listening for rumors in every inn in Zhongwen."

"I've been speaking to some old friends in high places," Bing added. "They've made sure he's wanted for murder in their home provinces."

"I've been talking to some old Thieves' Guild friends," said Gishi. "Y'know, seeing if they've heard or seen him."

Yin Bei looked between all of them, stunned into genuine silence. She… hadn't expected this.

"Come here," Rooster ordered, beckoning for her to follow as he turned and began walking towards the back of the training hall.

Confused, the young hare followed him. He led her to an unassuming door nestled in one of the back corners of the training hall.

The room beyond was full of scrolls. It wasn't overly large, about the size of a large closet. But the sheer number of different scrolls crammed in there was impressive.

Rooster retrieved a scroll from a shelf that was at slightly above eye level for Yin Bei. "If you want to help us find your brother," he began as he handed the scroll to her. "-this might be a good place to start."

She unrolled the scroll. It was titled "The Art of Ten Limb." It depicted hares in various martial arts positions, moves, and stances, even some using their ears. She recognized a little bit of it from what her father had been teaching her.

"That's your father's martial art," Bing informed her. "He created it himself. We can help teach you the basics, but some of it you'll have to learn yourself. That is, if you want to learn?"

Yin Bei took a deep breath. For the first time since her father's death, that throbbing headache had stopped. For once, her head felt clear, and the words she needed to say were very obvious. "Yes, please."

* * *

_**END OF CHAPTER 1**_

_**Aaaaaand we're back! Sorry for the long wait on this one. I kind of struggled with a few parts of this, and kept putting off posting it for a while. But eventually I just had to post it, or I'd go mad. There are gonna be a significant amount of differences between this SotH and the old one. But I hope they make this one even better!**_

_**In other news, Berserker88 and I are working on a novel! It may or may not be contributing to our slow fanfic uploading schedule. **_

_**The next thing I post should be Bloodlines chapter 2, if all goes well.**_

_**And please remember to leave comments. It's how I know to fix any mistakes. **_

_**Anyway, I've talked your ears off long enough. **_

_**Until we meet again…**_

_**Mind Jack, OUT!**_


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